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First of all you are trying to assume that in your situation that the girl had HIV. You don't know that she did or didn't. It doesn't matter that she had an STD or not. You didn't have a risk. Did you contract an STD? Stop with all the what ifs and move on.

If you'd had unprotected intercourse with this woman, THEN you would have been at increased risk of hiv because of her gonorrhea. You didn't have intercourse, unprotected or otherwise. Hiv isn't transmitted via mutual masturbation - which your situation was - no matter what sort of spin you want to put on it.

Test all you like for hiv, just don't be surprised at the negative result. By the way, the DNA PCR isn't approved for diagnostics, the RNA is. BUT, it is only approved for very specific situations; yours doesn't qualify as you had NO RISK.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Can someone explain to me about the different strands of HIV? I understand there are 2 subtypes: HIV-1 and HIV-2, and HIV-2 is predominently found in Africa. How about strands however? How many different strands of HIV-1 are there, and what are the significant differences between them?

Let me put it to you this way. Those of us who are positive don't know - and don't care - what "strain" (it's strain, not strand) we have. It doesn't matter. Not one bit. It doesn't matter where you are concerned either.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Hi Ann. I was just curious about the different strains b/c I knew nothing of them. Anyway I decided to take your advice and not go ahead with the DNA PCR. I'm going to take an antibody test next week (it'll be 2 days short of 6 weeks)...hopefully it'll come out negative.

I know that you base your answers in these situations to general occurrences of HIV in the general population. But befire I go, I want to reiterate one thing: Everyone kept telling me that you don't get HIV from hand to genital contact, and that HIV is very fragile and it dies as soon as exposed to air. My sitation is different in these two ways:

1) The stripper rubbed her vaginal secretions into my urethra. Now she didn't open the urethra with one hand, and then reach inside...however she rubbed herself and then immediately rubbed my penis, rubbing the tip on numerous occasions.

2) She rubbed my urethra as SOON as she rubbed herself. Granted HIV virus cells do not do well once exposed to air, however it's not far-fetched to say some of them were to survive if she did have HIV. Furthermore, I got gonorrhea from this incident, meaning that her vaginal secretions (possibly gonorrhea puss as my doctor said) obviously entered through my urethra.

This is why I'm concerned. If I simply received an average hand-job, I wouldn't be posting on this website. It's everyone above plus the fact that I was in a dirty city in an even dirtier place, which I will never go to again.

Have you ever heard of frottage? Frottage is the rubbing together of genitals, without penetration. Frottage is not a risk for hiv infection, not even when a penis is rubbed against the outside of a wet vagina. Frottage is not an hiv risk and neither is your handjob scenario. You didn't have an hiv risk. Period.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

I posted my situation on another website's forum (I hope you don't feel that I'm cheating on you :0) and here's what teh doctor had to say:

"Tommy, of course getting gonorrhea means your HIV risk was elevated. The risk still is very low; doubling a miniscule risk still leaves miniscule risk. If you are nervous, the way to deal with it is to get tested. Ventilating online is like masturbation: feels good at the time but ultimately unsatisfying."

As you can see, this makes my nervous level go from a 10 to a 20, especially since a docctor is telling me that my HIV risk was elevated, dispite the fact that he believes it was still miniscule. Does anyone agree with his comment? Did my gonorrhea risk increase since I caught gonorrhea? I understand that the Dr. is saying that since my risk was small before, even doubling or tripling my risk would still make it small, but did I double/triple my risk?

The past 5 weeks have been the work weeks of my life. Everyday I keep convincing myself not to take a DNA PCR and just wait for the antibody test, but it's hard. I try to keep myself busy, but I can't tell my situation to anyone, especially my beautiful girlfriend. We've been together for a while and I've never done anything like this to her, and I feel horrible. I just want everything to turn out ok in the end.

Yeah, you tried to argue with Dr. H and you got the same damn information that we gave you. NO RISK!

Tommy, of course getting gonorrhea means your HIV risk was elevated. The risk still is very low; doubling a miniscule risk still leaves miniscule risk. If you are nervous, the way to deal with it is to get tested. Ventilating online is like masturbation: feels good at the time but ultimately unsatisfying.

Feel free to email yourselves or to take your discussion to some other forum. I will delete any further comments here.

Note: The same response goes here like you were told on Medhelp. Feel free to email yourselves or to take your discussion to some other forum. .

Rapid Rod, I understand that people like me who seem to present no actual risk in your minds must annoy those who have had a very serious risk, i.e., unprotected anal sex with a confirmed HIV positive person. But you have to understand, I am very worried b/c I have never put myself in a situation like this. If a doctor tells me that not only was I theoretically at risk for HIV, but I've increased my chance b/c of a gonorrhea infection, that's going to flip me out. I'm sorry if my posts annoy you or anyone else, but since I can't talk to my g/f or anyone else about this, I take comfort in hearing from you guys.

You were never at risk and there has never been a documented case of contracting HIV or the clap from masterbating. Now you can worry yourself all you want, but don't be doing it here. Take it elsewhere.

Fine, I will...but guess what? My situation wasn't a simple "masturbation" and I CAUGHT THE CLAP FROM MY SITUATION. So DOCUMENT IT! Everyone just keeps on quoting statistics. Well, I caught gonorrhea from the situation I engaged in. It makes sense, vaginal secretion in the urethra, why not get gonorrhea if it's easy to get and she had it. HIV is more difficult, I understnad, but it's still a possibility and it's that possilibity that i'm worried about, espeically since I went against odds and caught gonorrhea

Theoretically, there is a minuscule chance of getting hit by a meteorite the next time you step foot outside your house. If you don't wear a hard hat, you increase the chance of getting hurt by a meteorite. THEORETICAL risks just don't happen in the real world. Theoretically, you could walk outside your house and find a 10 million dollar winning lottery ticket lying in the gutter. Is it going to happen? No. Are you going to be hit by a random meteorite tomorrow? Again, NO. Neither are you going to get hiv from this situation.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

I'm going in for a full STD panel tomorrow morning at Planned Parenthood, which will be my 39th day mark. Please pray for me as I have for you. One thing I'm concerned about is that for the past 5 days, I've had pain in my testicles, and am fearing that maybe my gonorrhea was not cured although my doc promised me that the shot he gave me would've cured it. Hopefully, it'll be something else, b/c I don't want to give anything to my g/f. Please think about me. Thanks for all your help.

Hi Andy, hope you're doing well. I read a lot of your writings on hear and really need your opinion. I need you to hear me out, b/c i've been freaking out everyday.

I took a full panel STD test on Friday, which will check for HIV, hep B, hep C, syphillis, gon/chlam and herpes. Friday was my 47th day post exposure (2 days short of 7 weeks). I understand that everyone keeps telling me I had no exposure and I shouldn't worry about HIV. Obviously, the only reason I'm worried about HIV was b/c I got GONORRHEA from my exposure, and I've read everywhere that having gonorrhea can increase your chances of getting HIV AND someone who has gonorrhea and HIV is 3-5 times more contagious when it comes to HIV. I read this on the CDC website. Now, I understand that my exposure wasn't high risk, but since I got gonorrhea, shouldn't I have a reasonable/legit concern about HIV? Especially since I was in a strip club in Tijuana, Mexico, and obviously i wasn't the first person this stripper gave a hand job to. I know I got the gonorrhea b/c as I had said, she directly rubbed my urethra after she rubbed herself. If she had gonorrhea puss on her fingers that entered my urethra, that would obviously increase my HIV risk.

I know you've probably never heard of anyone getting HIV this way, but have you ever heard of anyone getting gonorrhea this way either? I'd appreciate your words. Thanks.

tommyThe saying "me think you protest too" keeps floating around my 19 yr hiv infected brain. If I were a betting man, I just might bet there was more around your penis than a wet hand!! Guilt can cause us to do and say many things to justify that yerning to be set free of that guilt. If I am wrong, my sincere apologies, but your story comes across as about as sincere and true as Howard K Smith's intentions to help Anna Nichol Smith with countless drugs.

Hi Flight, I'm not sure I understand what you're implying. Are you implying more than a hand-job occurred and I'm just not saying so? If I had full on unprotected sex with this stripper, why wouldn't I say it? I'm anonymous in this forum. The hardest thing I'm dealing with right now is to convince people that I'm telling the truth, and that has been hard for me, in addition to worrying about HIV. I don't know how I can convince you or anyone else that I did actually get gonorrhea through a handjob with vaginal fluids. I had a urethral swab test performed for gonorrhea 1 week after my exposure and my doc said it tested positive for gonorrhea. I believe that it was a stain test b/c I got the results in the office in 10 minutes.

Please believe me, I have no reason to lie. I've only come to this forum for support so I don't drive myself crazy. Do you have any comments on my original question?

I understand the craziness with not knowing. It took five years to not panic over blood results. (they will go up and down)

Bottom line is until you get your results you are probably gonna act crazy. We have ALL been there. Just stop panicing. Whether you want to believe this, you ARE protesting way too much! I can only hope you are being truthful in your intention so just try and use the time until you get your results and reflect on what you did and why you did it. This could be an excellent time for you to reflect on your life and if negative, be graious and learn from your situation. If positive, you will join an exclusive group of men and woman that are in the same boat and who are just trying to make good out of an unfortunate situation. IF you were to test HIV positive, you will be in a much better place in 2007 than I was in 1988. HIV is NOT a death sentence.

Should I test for HIV-2 as my encounter took place in Tijuana, Mexico?

I still have pain in my left testicle (I had acquired gonorrhea from this same encounter and was treated). I was worried that the treatment hadn't worked but according to my results it seems that it might have.

I just want everyone to know that I was truthful about acquiring gonorrhea through my encounter, and it is POSSIBLE to get an STD from a hand-job with vaginal secretions used as a lubricant.

Should I test for HIV-2 as my encounter took place in Tijuana, Mexico?

I still have pain in my left testicle (I had acquired gonorrhea from this same encounter and was treated). I was worried that the treatment hadn't worked but according to my results it seems that it might have.

Tommy-

You tested negative for gonno. Why don't you believe the test results?

Trust all the test results and the sage advice given to you here from the very beginning. You cannot contract HIV from a hand job...period.

Brent(Who knows that Tommy's negative)

Logged

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